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The Role of Biotechnology in Europe's Responsible Innovation - SME Award

The Winner of the EuropaBio Most Innovative EU Biotech SME is...

Addex Pharmaceuticals is the first company devoted to industrializing discovery and development of allosteric modulators as drugs, and is focused on validated therapeutic targets for diseases of the central nervous system, metabolic disorders and inflammation. The company has developed multiple proprietary high-throughput discovery tools for allosteric modulators, a unique allostery-biased library and has established collaborations with Merck & Co., Inc. and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson. Two lead products are entering Phase II trials for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID) and for the treatment of schizophrenia, anxiety and other indications.

Addex Pharmaceuticals is the first company devoted to industrializing discovery and development of allosteric modulators as drugs, and is focused on validated therapeutic targets for diseases of the central nervous system, metabolic disorders and inflammation. The company has developed multiple proprietary high-throughput discovery tools for allosteric modulators, a unique allostery-biased library and has established collaborations with Merck & Co., Inc. and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson. Two lead products are entering Phase II trials for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID) and for the treatment of schizophrenia, anxiety and other indications.

Agendia is at the forefront of the personalized medicine revolution, striving to bring more effective, individualized treatments within reach of cancer patients. Building on a cutting-edge genomics platform for tumor gene expression profiling, the company’s tests help physicians more accurately tailor cancer treatments. The company’s lead product is MammaPrint, the first and only breast cancer recurrence test cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Agendia markets four products, and has several new genomic tests under development. In addition, Agendia collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to develop targeted cancer therapies. Agendia is based in Irvine, CA, and in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Algae Biotech is a company that benefits from the clean oceanic waters and the mild climate to process microalgae year around. We are focused on processing microalgae in a productive environment and the quality of the products is externally ensured through periodic quality analysis.Our business objective is to process selected microalgae species that offer a clear commercial business opportunity. In addition to our core "product to market" activities, we are also active in research and development around additional species that may provide us with new business opportunities.Furthermore, we place a high emphasis on developing innovative processes and concepts that can reduce our production cost, increase our product quality and give value for our clients, whilst respecting nature.Science and Technology play a leading role in Algae Biotech's development as a business in order to achieve high quality products that can be offered at market competitive prices. The requirement for having cutting edge scientific knowledge and know-how is among our main objectives. The knowledge derived from the research activities allows successful implementations into our production processes, which we see as essential for our commercial success.

AMSilk is the leading specialist in the development of spider silk proteins and their applications in fibers, coatings, and films, with a competitive advantage in intellectual property, protein production and application processes. Thus, AMSilk aims to be a key player in the newly emerging biopolymer industry in the cleantech sector. The AMSilk technology enables the creation of new functional high-tech materials, based on biopolymers. These materials will find application in numerous fields to improve existing products or to develop materials for completely new applications, which could not be realized until now, due to the lack of an appropriate material.

AMT is a leader in the development of human gene therapies. Using adeno-associated viral (AAV) derived vectors for the delivery of therapeutic genes, the company has been able to design and validate what is probably the first stable and scalable AAV production platform. This proprietary platform can be applied to diseases that are caused by one faulty gene. AMT has a product pipeline with several AAV-based gene therapy products in Lipoprotein Lipase Deficiency (currently in registration for MAA), Hemophilia B, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Acute Intermittent Porphyria, and Parkinson’s Disease. AMT was founded in 1998 and is based in Amsterdam.

Astex is a UK-based biotechnology company that discovers and develops novel, small molecule therapeutics for oncology and virology. Using its pioneering fragment-based drug discovery platform, known as Pyramid™, Astex has built a pipeline of molecularly-targeted oncology drugs, of which three are currently being tested in clinical trials with others in pre-clinical development. In addition to its proprietary research programmes, Astex’s productivity in lead discovery has been endorsed through numerous partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Bayer-Schering, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson.

BioArctic develops monoclonal antibodies for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The company's front-runner antibody BAN2401 was developed for treatment of Alzheimer´s disease with clinical trials on-going. Our technology is also applied to other CNS disorders such as Parkinson's disease. The antibodies developed have the unique property to reduce the toxic protofibrils, aggregated/misfolded proteins in the brain. The treatment is expected to halt the course of neurodegeneration in the diseases. BioArctic also develops a therapy for traumatic spinal cord injury. The product is a biodegradable device with a growth factor, which will promote and guide nerve regeneration in the spinal cord and restore function.

BioLamina develops, manufactures and markets human recombinant laminins that have a potential to help cell therapy to take the leap from scientists dreams to clinical trials and eventually become a therapy. The unique properties of BioLaminas products have solved many of the problems cell therapy scientists have been working for years. The key is to use different matrices for different cell types when differentiating cells– just the way it is in the human body. Instead of using this technology to create an own cell therapy, BioLamina decided to make it available to all researchers around the world.

Corline was founded in 1991 by three former employees at the very successful Swedish pharmaceuticals company Pharmacia (now part of Pfizer and GE), with the goal to commercialize an extra corporeal blood pump which at the time was an internal venture at Pharmacia.

Farm Biocontrol’s founding objective was - and continues to be - research into the development of processes and products on hygiene and bio-safety which allow livestock productivity to be increased by reducing the use of chemicals and pharmacological products. Farm Biocontrol’s investment in R&D has been really remarkable. Currently as they are facing the challenge of globalisation they have established commercial and scientific bonds with several countries. Their first achievement in 2010 has been the establishment of the first Farm Biocontrol Subsidiary in Chile.

Immunicum is a Swedish biopharmaceutical company, based in Gothenburg, which develops mainly patient independent therapeutic cancer vaccines but also vaccines against infectious diseases such as HIV. The project portfolio consists four different projects, protected by one approved Swedish patent and five pending patent applications. Immunicum was founded in 2002, as a spin-off from Sahlgrenska University Hospital. The company recently completed a significant new share issue, in addition to receiving a large grant from Vinnova (The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems), for starting a clinical phase 1/2 trial on renal cell carcinoma patients.

Intelligent Pharma is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing, commercializing and applying new computational technologies for drug discovery. At Intelligent Pharma we develop technologies based on computational chemistry to give the best in-silico services in drug discovery and, as a service company, we do completely integrated research projects with the objective of identifying active compounds and biological or medical information of molecules for our clients.Research activities are also focused on developing completely new technologies for drug design which are offered as a service, which means that we carry out the computational part of the projects in order to achieve our clients' objectives.

NIMGenetics is a young Spanish biomedical technology SME dedicated to developing innovative genomic analysis products known or aCGH biochips. Our products and services improve the effectiveness, coverage and response time of current methods for clinical diagnostics of genetic (chromosomal) disease in prenatal, postnatal (mental retardation), stem cell and oncological samples. Our main objective is to design, produce and comercialize worldwide our specialized products and genomic diagnostic services. We are improving the available genomic tools to assist medical profesionals in providing the fastest and most accurate diagnosis of genetic diseases.

Nordic Medcom AB is a Scandinavian company with head office in Sweden. Our core business is equipments and products used in dialysis. We supply dialysis catheters, CRRT system, machines and products for home dialysis. We are currently introducing Next Stage at the Scandinavian market. We develop own products that benefit patients and offer a cost-benefit ratio for hospitals and clinics. Nordic Medcom AB has a complete organisation including R&D, marketing, customer support and technical assistance.

Microdish BV is an SME founded in the Netherlands (2008) dedicated to improving microbial culture through the design, manufacture and use microengineered culture chips and nanoscale reagents. To this end MicroDish makes direct sales of culture chips and is involved in codevelopment projects with industrial and academic partners.

Oncos Therapeutics develops novel cancer therapies based on its next generation oncolytic viruses. Since the onset of our Advanced Therapy Access Program in 2007, 200 patients have undergone tailored treatment suggesting strong safety and efficacy. The program is based on extensive scientific research at the University of Helsinki and serves as the foundation for our ongoing clinical development.

ORF Genetics is pioneer in manufacturing of plant-made recombinant proteins. Using its Orfeus™ production system in barley, the company offers the world’s largest portfolio of products of molecular farming. Production takes place in a state-of-the art greenhouse, using renewable energy. The company’s ISOkine™ growth factors are used in varied medical research and DERMOkine™ growth factors are used as active ingredients in cosmetic products. ORF’s subsidiaries, Sif Cosmetics and Gló Biopharma see to product development of growth factors and other recombinant proteins for specific markets. Sif Cosmetics’ BIOEFFECT EGF Serum is the first product of molecular farming on the consumer market."

Ortus Energy is developing a new approach to renewable energy: bio-photovoltaics, the conversion of sunlight into electricity using microbes. Our approach takes advantage of recent discoveries in biology to divert electrons from the path of photosynthesis and export them from a living cell to an electrode; this holds the prospect of very low cost solar electricity. Ortus Energy has completed initial research proving the principle and is developing the concept further in partnership with Cambridge and Sheffield Universities. It has also developed a route to market and secured revenue from a major US company sponsoring further invention and development.

PharmaDiagnostics develops an innovative drug discovery screening technology, SoPRano™, to improve the efficiency of the drug discovery process for both small molecule and biological therapeutics. SoPRano™ is a label-free technology – the interactions of potential drugs with their biological targets can be assessed without using fluorescent labels. This reduces both the cost of screening and minimises artefacts. Furthermore, SoPRano™ is unique in enabling label-free screening using standard laboratory equipment. High cost specialist instruments as used in other label-free technologies are not required, as SoPRano™ uses specifically functionalized gold nanoparticles which exhibit reproducible and quantifiable absorbance change upon ligand interaction.

Promethera Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company, spin-off of the Université Catholique de Louvain, that develops innovative treatments based on allogeneic adult stem cell technology. Promethera® Biosciences' mission is to discover, develop and commercialize cell therapy products to treat liver diseases in an innovative way using allogenic progenitor cells from healthy human livers.

Prosensa is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of RNA (ribonucleic acid) modulating therapeutics. The company targets genetic disorders with a large unmet medical need, with a primary focus on neuromuscular and neurodegenerative life threatening disorders such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Myotonic Dystrophy, Huntington's disease and Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The company focuses on addressing diseases with a large unmet medical need, for which no curative treatments exist today.

reMYND drives the development of disease-modifying treatments against Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Diabetes and other protein misfolding disorders through two independently managed business units: - The in-vivo Contract Research Organization (CRO) helps its clients to assess the pharmacokinetics and -dynamics of their experimental treatments against Alzheimer's disease in reMYND's proprietary Alzheimer mouse models; - The Drug Discovery and Development Unit (DDD) focuses on disease-modifying treatments against protein-misfolding disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Diabetes. The DDD has entered recently in a strategic collaboration with Roche to bring the first disease modifiers in Parkinson's and in Alzheimer's to the market.

Sistemic is a development company head-quarteredin in Scotland and with offices in Boston, US. Our core expertise is based on microRNA profiling in context and our primary business is focused on providing innovative microRNA-based problem-solving services and kit-based products to drug development R&D and bioprocessing/manufacturing markets. SistemRNA is the enabling platform tehnology which flows through our services and kits. SistemRNAanalysis, captures the dynamic response of all the cellular pathways as well as their interactions, giving enhanced clarity without data overload. This simplistic yet highly informative approach delivers robust fundamental biological understanding enabling key decision making throughout the research process.

SOLVO Biotechnology, the largest Hungarian biotech company, pioneered the use of drug transporter technology to optimize ADME studies in drug discovery and development. SOLVO is the market leader in the field in vitro transporter assays, offering the widest range of assays on the market with close to 50 ABC transporters and uptake transporter assays in its portfolio. The company has unique expertise in the field of transporter science, having published up to 30 publications. SOLVO’s clients include major pharma and biotech companies in more than 30 countries, helping them to run more effective and safer drug discovery and development studies.

Syntaxin was founded in late 2005 through spin-out of intellectual property and scientists from the UK Health Protection Agency, Porton Down, and benefits from 15 years of research in the field of bacterial toxin engineering. The company holds dominant patents and know how in the design, manufacture and use of novel cell Targeted Secretion Inhibitors (TSI) based on engineered botulinum toxins. These drugs inhibit secretion from a specific target cell for a prolonged period after a single dose, so are convenient for treatment of chronic disease. Cell secretion plays an important role in the development of numerous diseases including endocrine, metabolic disorders, certain cancers, as well as chronic pain. Syntaxin’s proprietary technology enables the generation of novel therapeutic proteins with broad applicability across these major disease areas.

TiGenix is a biomedical company that focuses on ‘Regenerating Motion’. The company is exploiting the power of Regenerative Medicine to develop durable treatments for damaged and diseased skeletal tissues. TiGenix has two approved products in Europe: ChondroCelect®, the company's lead product for cartilage regeneration in the knee, is the first cell-based product that is registered in Europe as a medicinal product. ChondroMimetic™ is an off-the-shelf, collagen based implant for the treatment of small osteochondral defects. The company exploits a proprietary (stem) cell and biomaterials platform, which will continue to generate candidate products that address specific musculoskeletal problems.

to‑BBB is a private biotechnology company focusing on enhanced drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier. The company is developing novel treatments for brain disorders by combining existing drugs with to‑BBB’s proprietary brain delivery platform, the G‑Technology®. The G‑Technology combines the well-established drug delivery approach of pegylated liposomes with the endogenous tripeptide glutathione as targeting ligand in a novel and safe way. Together with several top tier pharma and biotech companies, to‑BBB is investigating the versatility of the G‑Technology for drugs that are unable to reach the brain within a tolerable therapeutic window. Furthermore, to‑BBB is applying the G‑Technology for the delivery of doxorubicin for the treatment of brain cancer as its internal lead product 2B3‑101.

Vaxeal is developing a novel generation of therapeutic vaccines, and has established the first strategy based on Regional Therapeutic Vaccines to address the unmet need of highly mutating pathogens. Our strategy employs cocktails of Multi-epitopic Long Synthetic Peptides (LSPs) that can be modified with a lipid tail. The use of Long Synthetic peptides provides epitopes capable of binding to various MHC class I and class II molecules, thus overcoming the MHC restriction observed in response to short peptides. LSPs are able to elicit specific strong cellular responses in volunteers and patients.

Vichem is a Hungarian biotech research company focusing on signal transduction therapy with kinase inhibitors. Vichem performs advanced medicinal chemistry in the kinase inhibitory field based on its unique, in-house developed, Nested Chemical Library™ (NCL) technology. The NCL was designed on the platform of an up-to-date knowledge base what we have built up from the knowledge accumulated in our recent 20 years of kinase inhibitory chemistry. Our library is organized around 108 core structures and more than 300 scaffolds, and contains inhibitors against 124 kinases, providing the most diverse kinase inhibitory library available for drug research.